Cuisine of Tilos Island for gourmets. Places for dinner - best restaurants

You’ll have a bunch of opportunities to learn about local chefs’ skills. You can just express preference for breakfasts, lunches and dinners in a hotel or look for one of many restaurants (due to the island’s increasing popularity in tourism) which serve casual sushi, burgers or pasta, of course, but if you want to actually immerse yourself into the island’s culture, you definitely have to experience the Tilos cuisine too. The best option is the taverns that are far from touristic attractions and the majority of guests must be locals. And there are much more such non-touristic places here on the island than you might imagine. It’s mostly because of the Greeks’ love for night get-togethers with friends and family in taverns. Remember that it will be not that easy to find a free table after 10 p.m. in places of such type, as it’s time when a working day on Tilos is over and all locals decide to spend time in their favorite cafe. What is more, there are special entertainment programs in such taverns, mostly including dance performances of the local dance groups in national costumes to the traditional music.

Besides, if you find a «Greek salad» option in a menu, it doesn’t mean that you’ve come to a tavern for tourists. So, Greeks themselves call it a «village salad» or «rustic salad». Even though different chefs have different recipes of this dish, cheese, olives, pepper, and tomatoes are the required ingredients.

And don’t forget that guests should add as much olive oil as they want in their dishes in all traditional Greek taverns. There are even special oilcans on every table.

Everybody should definitely try the local dip tzatziki made from yogurt, cucumbers and garlic. It’s usually served with meat or pita – flat unleavened bread. Residents of Tilos Island usually eat pitas with other dishes as well as just as it is (or with various fillings, e.g. meat, fish or vegetables). One of the simplest snacks is gyro which you can buy in local souvlaki places. Gyro is a pita stuffed with souvlaki, French fries, sauce, and vegetables. Copyright www.orangesmile.com

Besides, souvlaki can also be served as a separate dish. This type of fast food has an ancient history. The first tools for cooking this dish date back to antiquity. Today, souvlaki is cooked from different kinds of meat, seafood and even vegetables.

Fasolada – a soup – came from ancient times as well. According to Homer, many warriors who participated in Troy attack were eating this soup as well. Nevertheless, locals eat not only ancient soups. You can order a chickpea soup (vegans should like it) or kakavia – a local fish soup. Besides, you can also order typical soups on chicken or beef broth in the island taverns. However, people here are not really fond of soups – what can’t be said about fish dishes.

The best place to try fish is a fish tavern (can be found near the coastline). You can order something from a menu or ask to cook a fish you fished yourself for a fee. Moreover, try pasta with caviar of the local fish, stewed octopus, mussel salad, and grilled dorado. In case you don’t know what to choose, order a seafood platter.

Furthermore, local chefs cook met dish too. For example, grilled lamb ribs and stewed beef are especially tasty. Pastitsio made from pasta with ground meat and moussaka – a casserole with aubergines, minced meat and potatoes are also highly delicious. Such dishes as dolma, keftedakia and loukaniko are definitely worth trying. Kokoretsi – grilled intestines – is an extremely popular meal on the island.

As for dessert, you can order a local yogurt with honey and nuts or, for instance, loukoumades, baklava or nougat. There are also more «heavy» sweets like a pie with custard, but they’re usually served in the winter period. What is more, there is a great variety of diverse coffee houses and they open early in the morning. Tea-lovers are unlucky ones – locals drink it only as a mixture from cold. Concerning alcohol, try cold wine retsina, a simple wine and ouzo – an anise beverage. Grappa – a grape-based alcoholic beverage – and Metaxa – a sweet brandy – have quite a peculiar taste. If you had a fun night with alcohol, go to a special local place where you can order patsas soup – it will help.